


Negotiations

by Asymptotical



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Captivity, Characters in pairing trying to kill each other, Enemies to allies to ??? to enemies to lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rough wound care, Temporary alliance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-02 11:29:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18809998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/pseuds/Asymptotical
Summary: Theron's mission was going fairly well (only half a disaster, maybe a third if he was optimistic) until the Wrath of the Empire decided to show up.They'd agreed that they were enemies again after Yavin. The reality was a bit more complicated.





	Negotiations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wednesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesday/gifts).



> This is set between Yavin and Ziost. I got a little bit headcanony about what The Empire's Wrath's normal responsibilities might be now that "obliterating whatever the Emperor wants to hit with his personal internal affairs hammer" is off the table, but that's only referenced.
> 
> I'm not entirely certain that it's violent enough to need the graphic violence warning, but since the violence is between the tagged pairing I wanted to make sure there was warning.

Theron ducked behind a toppled column, ignoring a blast that sliced through the air where his head had been moments before. This whole situation was... not ideal, but there was a skeleton crew on this planet so as long as they could get in and out before the Imps got backup, it was still doable. He had enough Jedi along that as long as their escape route held, they might even all get out of this alive.

Might. It was going to be tough. Hopefully it would be worth it.

There was a familiar prickle of angry energy across his skin and Theron felt an instinctive wave of relief. Then his brain caught up to what that feeling actually _meant_.

The Wrath of the Empire was here.

That was not good.

It didn't matter that they'd been allies fairly recently. It didn't matter that they'd had some almosts and barely saids that could have gotten either of them accused of treason if someone found out. It didn't matter that the whole reason Theron was here was to follow up on a possible plot the Emperor might be carrying out. It didn't matter that one or both of them was going to have to deal with that one day.

Probably one of them. Probably the Sith, if he was being realistic about his chances in this situation.

Theron mentally reviewed their escape routes, then flicked on his comm. "Everyone pull out!"

"What happened?" Master Surro's voice rang out calmly, preemptively silencing any complaints the rest of the team might have had about the sudden change.

"Lord Wrath is closing in, and we do _not_ want to be here when he gets here."

"We may still be able to complete the mission. I will distract the Sith while you--"

"Not a chance. Even if it would work, this isn't worth dying over." Theron wasn't certain how the Jedi would take the implication that he didn't think she was a match for the incoming Sith... Hopefully she'd just trust him on this.

"If the Emperor--"

Or she could just ignore the whole issue. That worked too. "The Imps don't want him back any more than we do. If they spot me, they'll probably be able to guess why I'm here and with luck they'll connect the dots and look into it themselves. There's no time to argue it, just retreat."

"Understood."

Theron dodged to another bit of cover. The Imps had pulled back a bit, but that wasn't necessarily a good sign. If the Sith was close enough for him to _feel_ then he was surprised the man hadn't already busted in to ruin their day.

Almost on cue, there was a blast of lightning and a crash as the Sith came blazing towards them, sending one of the Jedi flying to hit a column with a sickening crack.

Before the man could turn towards the rest of the team, Master Surro launched herself over a wall, clearly having taken off in towards this half of the team intending to meet this new threat the moment Theron had called a retreat.

She was incredibly good.

She was going to lose.

Theron felt the world slow around him. He was at a different angle from the rest of the team and the only one likely to get a good shot. He had a choice here. He knew how the Sith fought. He knew his habits. He'd memorized the few weaknesses that he had.

It was incredibly tempting to rationalize that they'd need Wrath against the Emperor.

Theron waited half a second for an opening, shoving his emotions away as he aimed and shot at the man's back, straight for his heart.

For a heart stopping second Theron thought it had somehow worked. The Sith didn't even seem to react to the shot, then at the last moment the man was flinging himself sideways, the blast cleaving so close to the outside of his arm that it left the Sith's sleeve smoking. Seeing him distracted, Master Surro tried to go in for a perceived weak spot. The Sith blasted her back into a wall in a rain of rubble.

Fuck.

Theron should have taken a follow up shot there. He could have. He was an idiot.

There was shock flashing over the Sith's face as he swung to face Theron, and Theron suddenly realized that he wasn't the only one who was having to recalibrate friend and foe.

The Sith certainly wasn't suffering the same emotional turmoil that Theron was, though. The shock on his face quickly morphed to fury. Very specific fury. Very specifically in Theron's direction fury.

It was a look Theron had seen directed at other people. It usually preceded a painful death.

Theron took off around a crumbled ruin, dodging into the underbrush and shooting back under his arm as he heard the tell-tale whoosh of a force user flinging themselves over an obstacle. All he had to do was not die, for as long as possible.

"Get out of here!" He snapped into his comm, then shut it down completely. They were probably protesting against leaving him behind, but he didn't have the luxury of arguing. Hopefully the Sixth Line would be able to bring everyone else around to the reality of the situation.

With luck he'd be able to buy his people enough time to get out of here. With a lot of luck he'd be able to lose the Sith in the forest and steal a ship to get out of here later.

  


* * *

  


The pain brought Theron immediately to consciousness. He swallowed any audible response to it, though it was too much to hope that he hadn't reacted physically. The prickly sense of something dark and angry meant that it was a good idea to appear plausibly unconscious for as long as possible.

Specifically the disturbingly comfy brand of dark and angry that he was having a hard time reacting appropriately to. Apparently losing a fight wasn't enough to completely erase that feeling of 'the calvary is here'.

This was not good.

He was slung over someone's shoulder. Probably Lord Wrath's. Hopefully anyone else's. There was a decent chance that the Sith hadn't noticed Theron waking while he navigated whatever unsteady terrain he was walking on. It wasn't comfortable to be carried over, but if it had given Theron cover for long enough to assess the situation then he could deal with it.

If he was the sort of person to engage in delusion, he'd hope he'd been rescued... but even without the aura of darkness there was a buzz of a lightsaber way too close for comfort and the hand holding him had a bruising grip. One of his arms was... not good. Hopefully fractured, possibly broken. He didn't really want to chance opening his eyes to check but it felt mobile as he tentatively tensed the muscles, so that was... something. His torso was a mass of pain that he couldn't even start separating out, probably some fractured ribs based on how the pain flared with each breath, but he could remember some lightning getting a bit too close for comfort so that might explain some of the lower torso pain. His legs felt fine, at least. Maybe not something he should let the Sith know, but for now he could still run.

He regulated his breathing, trying to think of a way out of this. The Sith wouldn't have left him with any weapons; he wasn't an idiot. And the man probably wouldn't be dumb enough to underestimate Theron even when he was unarmed and injured. Again, not an idiot.

Trying to go back to fighting someone who knew how Theron dealt with things was turning out to be far more uncomfortable than Theron had expected. He’d mostly been anticipating emotional turmoil, not having to completely rewrite his own tactics.

Before he was able to even start getting his thoughts together, he was suddenly lifted and dropped onto the ground, his whole body tensing as he swallowed any auditory response to the pain of the impact. He'd survived worse than this. The Sith had _seen_ him survive worse than this.

(The Sith knew an awful lot more than Theron was comfortable with about how he resisted torture. It had been comforting at the time, to talk it out, to reassure someone who seemed worried about him, to make horribly tasteless jokes about the whole situation, to bitch about Lana and 'pragmatism'. He was such an idiot; he'd learned not to trust one Sith then immediately turned around and leaned on another. He'd talk about how the Sith wasn't just a bruiser in one breath then forget it in the next.)

He could hear the man looming over him, lightsaber still lit, and if he waited long enough, was convincingly still unconscious enough, then there was a chance that the Sith would risk turning his back. The man was incredibly arrogant, not unfounded, but everyone made mistakes and Theron knew that first shot had almost hit. All he needed was an opening.

He couldn't stop from tensing internally as the sound of a swinging lightsaber suddenly filled the air, the blade cutting into the ground close enough that Theron could feel the heat of it besides his head and the sparks from the impact flying into his face.

"Get up."

Well, so much for that.

He opened his eyes slowly, feigning the sort of grogginess that you'd normally expect from someone who had just woken up by being flung to the ground with broken ribs. It was a good cover for taking stock of the situation, even if the dark surroundings were nearly impossible to see with the red blaze of the saber refusing to let his eyes adjust. Some sort of small building, with a wall style that seemed to occur in ruined clusters in this area rather than individual outpost buildings. No power, or at least none he could hear. No windows, but the door was jammed half open. Long abandoned, like most of the structures on this planet.

And one massive dark figure, lit in the angry red of his saber and looking incredibly... annoyed. Probably. Theron tried not to sag in relief at that. The Sith's anger tended to twist everything around him and sometime between Theron falling unconscious and waking up it had worked itself out. As long as he could keep the man from killing him _right now_ , he could get out of this.

The Sith knew that, though. And Theron wasn't enough of a fool to think that him not being enraged meant he wasn't planning to take Theron apart piece by piece. He'd shot him. He couldn't see the wound from this angle, and it was ridiculous to think that a glancing shot wouldn't be more than paid for by broken bones and burns, but Sith were rarely logical.

He couldn't hear any sounds of other people, but without knowing how long he'd been unconscious it was impossible to know if that was because the Sith hadn't called for extraction, because Theron's people were keeping the Imps busy enough that they had to risk angering the second most dangerous Sith in the galaxy, or because the Imp extraction team was en route.

Theron wasn't sure which option was worst.

"So..." he trailed off, frowning up at the other man. He was suddenly piercingly aware that he didn't really know how to manipulate this. Most people had patterns, and this man was no exception, but Theron had no idea exactly where he fell _within_ those patterns and half the roles were ones he'd never seen or heard of him interacting with before. The Sith had no living family, his close friends were his subordinates, he'd been betrayed before but that wasn't exactly their situation. There wasn't any precedent for how the Sith would react to mutually agreeing to be enemies again and then having that person try to kill him. He didn't even know if the Sith would consider it a betrayal or not. It wasn't; they'd very explicitly said that if they met each other on the battlefield and had to kill each other then that was how it was... but people weren't usually logical when emotions were involved. Especially if those people were Sith.

Theron definitely wasn't having that problem. This wasn't like Lana. He and the Sith had agreed. They were done. The Sith had said he'd kill him if they encountered each other on the battlefield and Theron had joked back that he'd try to get a shot off first. And he had. And he'd missed. And if he died here and now then that was that, nobody betrayed anyone and he should absolutely not be having any sort of feeling roiling in his gut. And the Sith definitely shouldn't, since he wasn't the one who might die here.

Either way, one wrong word and he'd die. He'd seen the other man kill people idly for minor annoyances. It had been... it had been disturbingly easy not to mind, when the Sith was killing their enemies or criminals. He'd said something disapproving, usually, but he was suddenly struck by how little he'd cared about the Sith snapping some random pirate's neck or striking down a ranting Revanite with lightning. In a fight was one thing, but it hadn't always been...

Nothing like a role reversal to remind him that he was supposed to have morals about this sort of thing.

The Sith growled at him, eyes glowing in the darkness and hand tensing on his lightsaber. Theron tried not to tense, there was no telling if moving would just provoke the other man.

Then he suddenly switched the blade off and turned to stalk deeper into the room, with his cloak dramatically swooshing behind him.

Theron wasn't certain what the Sith was doing and he had no intention of finding out. He counted the steps, waiting until he had to move around something to get at whatever he was going for, then Theron flung himself upwards and launched towards the door.

His ribs and arm were blazing in pain. Every alarm in his head screamed at him that this was an incredibly stupid idea but he ignored that too. This might be his only chance to have the Sith's attention even slightly elsewhere. These sorts of buildings were usually close together and the plants choked everything on this planet. The Sith's fighting style favored large open spaces, so if he could stick to narrow corridors and hope that his own training at moving through these sorts of areas would win out over force enhanced speed--

A hand closed over his arm.

Theron was flung back into the opposite wall, unable to stop himself from screaming as something cracked and the pain in his ribs exploded, his vision blurring.

As he crumpled to the ground he squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to get a handle on the surge of pain, then choked as a hand closed over his neck, dragging him back up the wall.

He struggled to get his feet under him and tried not to choke for breath, unconsciously grabbing at the Sith's elbow with his unbroken arm. If this were anyone else then there were a dozen moves to get out of this hold, but the Sith's arm was like steel under his hand as he effortlessly kept Theron high enough on the wall that he could barely reach the ground. Theron stared at the other man's chest, gambling that submission was probably the best track to take and suddenly incredibly conscious of just how physically outclassed he was in this situation. Going for the man's face or any other logical move was _not_ going to end well for him. He just had to stay calm and try not to struggle against the bruising hold crushing his windpipe and hope the Sith backed off before Theron blacked out.

A fist smashed into the wall besides his head, cracking the concrete and sending scraps of it flying against Theron's cheek. Theron's gaze jerked upwards in time to see the Sith's eyes were glowing with dark energy, and suddenly Theron was very certain that he was going to die here, choking for breath with an iron vise around his throat.

And then the Sith's grip eased and Theron slid down the wall enough to stand on his own feet. He gasped in a breath, still clinging to the Sith's arm and hoping the other man didn't notice that he was less trying to drag it off of his neck than to steady himself.

He was never, ever, getting involved with a Sith again. For now on all of his Sith interactions were going to be purely SIS agent versus evil force user and nothing else was going to happen to add any sort of unpredictable element to the reactions. Would the Sith have even bothered to chase him if they didn't have a history? Or would Theron have just died faster? There was too much that Theron couldn't quantify and he regretted everything about it.

"Where do you think you're going," the Sith snapped at him. "You're injured and I'm me. How far did you think you would get? A foot out the door? Two? Maybe the force would favor you especially well today and you'd make it a whole three?"

"You were having a hard time keeping up with me before I went down a cliff." Theron choked out, the strain of his voice smothering most of the sarcasm he was aiming for. If he couldn't figure out what the dynamic was, then going with what it used to be was probably the safest bet. At least they were talking now.

The Sith snorted, "If I had a hard time keeping up, then why did you have to jump to your death to flee me?"

"Last I checked I'm still alive."

"You're still alive because I caught you halfway down."

That... That wasn't the answer Theron was expecting. Even though the blast of energy that knocked him unconscious had put him a bit off course, he'd assumed that the trees had broken his fall as planned.

The Sith smirked at him, which probably meant his expression had changed somehow. "Did you think you just miraculously survived a fall that far, unconscious, with naught but a few broken bones? Maybe I should have let you plummet, let the force decide your fate."

Theron didn't answer. He, he really needed a moment to figure out all the angles that information could point towards.

"What are you even doing here? This entire planet is supposed to be a secret," the Sith grumbled.

"Not a very well kept one, clearly."

The Sith's expression darkened, "It _was_. When I find whoever is sending you information, I'm going to tear them to pieces."

Theron carefully kept his face blank as he made certain that there was nothing for the Sith to glean from his mind. The man wasn't his apprentice, he couldn't see... whatever it was that she could see.

He noticed anyways, grip tightening slightly around Theron's throat as he hissed, "Tell your spy to run. Tell them that I'm going to tear their tongue out then feed them their own eyes. I'll send their ears back to the Republic in a bag sewn from their own _face_."

"What makes you think that there's a spy?"

"There's always a spy."

The Sith pulled his other hand back and Theron tensed, expecting a blow, but instead the other man reached in the direction he'd been moving when Theron had tried to make it out the door. There was a crack from across the room as something ripped free of the opposite wall and flew towards Theron's head.

He winced as it slammed into the wall besides him with the sound of cracking plastic then tumbled to the floor. It was... Theron couldn't really glance down to check, but he was fairly certain by the colors that it had been a med kit?

Well. On the bright side, the Sith seemed to want him alive. On the less bright side, The Wrath of the Empire seemed to want him alive.

"So, you're taking me in then? Am I your prisoner, or the Empire's?"

"I haven't decided."

"I'm sure you can guess which of the two I'd prefer."

Some of the darkness in the air receded as the Sith chuckled darkly, "If I did take you home and cuff you to my bed, how many hours would it be before you'd somehow managed to steal my ship and half my databanks?"

When he had made the remark, Theron had been thinking that it would be far safer if the Sith was going to just hand him over to some Imperials. More painful, certainly, but it was a situation that Theron knew how to deal with and escape from. The one the Sith had thought up was... Theron was instantly disturbed by how okay he was with that scenario. He was not supposed to be okay with that scenario. Even if it was for information gathering purposes.

He was just going to safely file that away as preferring the scenario where he didn't get tortured and managed to steal valuable information. Of course any SIS agent worth the title would prefer that. Especially the sort of information that this man might be keeping in his home base, the location of which wasn't even public knowledge.

(Theron knew where it was, but the number of non-intelligence personnel who did could probably be counted on two hands.)

His being okay with it was definitely nothing involving beds and definitely nothing involving the man that was literally pinning him by the neck to a wall.

He was very quickly coming around to _that_ as well, now that it was clear he wasn't imminently going to die, and that was something Theron really could have lived without learning about himself.

The Sith didn't seem bothered by Theron's lack of an answer, continuing, "Jaesa and Vette would probably have an issue with that option though. There would be snippy comments and loud tangentially related bitch sessions right outside my door. They would be more annoying than normal and I've let them get away with it enough that I can't even torture them to shut them up without creating even more issues that I don't have the time to deal with." He tilted his head a little, eyes gleaming in the low light as he smirked. "Or should I just leave you with them from the start? Tell me, Theron, if you could pick an interrogation droid or Jaesa, who would you rather spend an hour with?"

Theron's answer caught in his throat. He knew exactly what Jaesa was capable of. "I've had plenty of Sith try to read my mind before."

"She doesn't read minds, she reads... Souls? I'm not really sure what, but I've never encountered someone capable of blocking her sight." The Sith let go of his neck, gently caressing it instead, "What would she find in yours, I wonder?"

"What did she find in yours?" Maybe not a smart question, but it distracted Theron from the feel of the other man's fingers gently stroking his skin or the memory of that same hand clenching around his neck. Theron wasn't sure which he preferred, and he definitely didn't want to examine exactly why.

The Sith just smiled, hand gently moving around the back of Theron's head as he leaned in, bracing his other arm against the wall. "What do you think she found?"

They were close enough that Theron could feel his breath on his skin, and that should not be so distracting. Not now, with his ribs and arm burning and his neck aching from the bruises that were probably blooming there.

If nothing else, if he managed to get back, no one was going to doubt that he'd had to fight to do it.

The Sith pulled back suddenly, watching Theron with an expression that was quickly closing off. "Sit down."

Theron hesitated, then let himself slide down the wall as the other man glared at him. Most of the medical supplies had managed to stay more or less in the case despite the rough handling. He reached his good arm towards the kit, then jerked back in surprise as the Sith dropped unceremoniously to sit on the floor and batted his hand away.

"I said sit down. Not 'aggravate your wounds further.'"

"You just threw me into a wall." Theron couldn't keep the indignant note out of his voice.

There was a flash of something that almost looked like guilt over the Sith's face, there and gone too fast for Theron to be sure.

"I don't know why you thought running would work."

The Sith tilted Theron's chin up, inspecting the damage he'd done to Theron's neck in the dim light.

Theron tried to suppress a shiver, immediately certain that he had been far, far more comfortable dealing with an angry Lord Wrath than whatever this was.

"It's a bit hard to treat bruises you can't see," the Sith said, "and I know I grazed you with lightning."

"I can treat those." He wanted to say that the wounds weren't that bad (they weren't; his arm was the worst and they couldn't do anything about that here), but the Sith's expression was too closed off for him to be sure if that would be a good direction to go.

Plus, as a general rule, the more wounded the enemy thought he was, the easier it would be to escape later. It was disturbingly easy to slip back into thinking of the Sith as someone to trust with the barest momentary bit of excuse, but Theron needed to stay focused on the reality of the situation.

"You can also sit still while I do so," the Sith answered, eyes glittering darkly as he reached over and ripped the lid off the med kit, pulling out a couple things before he found what he was looking for. Kolto wipes and stick-ons, probably, judging by the shape of the packages. It was... actually what Theron would have applied, for these.

"Doesn't your assistant usually handle these things for you?"

Assistant was the wrong word, but 'pet tomb robber' was too on the nose and Imperials liked their earned titles (even the powerless ones) a little too strictly for Theron to call her a medic.

"Vette calms down faster if she can fuss. It gives her some sense of control over the situation."

 _I wouldn't mind some sense of control over this situation._ Theron thought grumpily. But... Maybe that was the point? Not that the Wrath of the Empire had any lack of control here, but it was probably for the best to let him have this and catch his breath for whatever he needed to do next.

Theron resigned himself to being manhandled for a bit. This was familiar territory. Not this _exact_ situation, usually it was more on the lines of someone taking out frustration via violence, but he could adjust to this.

He’d let the Sith calm down via action, then carefully feel out his options and either plan an escape or talk his way out of things. As much as his instincts said that being handed over to the Imperials would be the better option, if the Sith was automatically considering his apprentice's opinion then that meant that whatever he had planned for Theron was probably more on the lines of a comfortable cell.

Incredibly unlikely worst case scenario, if the Sith somehow managed to make it so Theron couldn't escape on his own, they were both still working on finding the Emperor and the man had never had any qualms about putting Republic personnel to work on shared goals. It would be awkward, and it would set Theron's short term missions back horrifically if he was gone for more than a week, but he was building up a team that was capable of handling themselves without him and self controlled enough to not redirect their plans towards any doomed rescue missions.

(The Sith absolutely would interrupt everything for rescue missions. He had before. It was incredibly inconvenient when Theron already had a handle on rescuing himself and that was definitely Theron's only emotion on the matter. He wouldn't have to worry about that this time, though, not when the main person he had to worry about pulling that sort of chaos was the one capturing him.)

He kept carefully still as the Sith set about patching him up with the kolto, trying not to wince as the other man pressed a little too hard against the bruises around his neck. He _absolutely_ could have done this himself, and there was a thin possibility that pointing out the roughness would get the Sith to cut it out... but there was an undercurrent of danger to the air that probably meant the Sith was still a lot more pissed off than he was letting on. So Theron bit down his complaints.

He tensed a little as the Sith started pushing off his coat, then winced as it... caught. When he glanced down at his side he could see where it was plastered there, which probably meant a wound that he didn't even notice. His first instinct was to assume it was from the lightning but-- the Sith yanked the fabric away from his skin with a suddenness that made Theron have to bite down a whimper.

He could feel something trickling down his side. Probably a cut from the fall, then. His ribs hurting so much had made it hard to notice. Based on how the shifting fabric felt he probably had some burns too, and those were _definitely_ from the Sith's lightning.

"If you go after individual Sith, I don't care." The man snapped, probably continuing some thought out loud. "If they want to underestimate you and pick a fight with the Technoplague then they are welcome to it."

Theron carefully schooled away any reaction to that identification. He wasn't sure if the Sith knew, or if he was just assuming. What had he said, on Rishi and Yavin, that might have given him a clue? Or had someone uncovered more evidence within the Empire and this man (or Lana) knew him well enough to connect the dots?

Lana put a frightening amount of faith in Lord Wrath. If she figured it out, she would probably tell him. Theron couldn't help but wonder if the Dark Council even knew just how much influence their personal nightmare had over the person they'd put in charge of all of their intelligence operations.

Or maybe it had been deliberate. Marr seemed to view Wrath as more of a free roaming asset, maybe he looked at the situation and saw a way for the personification of Imperial morals who happened to be generally on his side to get as much information as he needed, and thought it was a good idea.

"It's not my job to protect them," the Sith continued, "and frankly I do not care whether they get themselves murdered. Sith, Republic, some random Geonosian. Doesn't matter. They're Sith, they can deal with their own security and they _better_ not be so bad about it that I have to get called in on the Empire's sake or their head will be the first thing I destroy. The higher ranking they are, the more they ought to be able to handle themselves. The more holdings they have, the more power base they ought to have to defend them."

The man yanked up Theron's shirt, glowering at his side before grabbing something else from the medkit and shoving it against the wound. From the burn, Theron was fairly sure it was an antiseptic.

"But when you show up in places that you shouldn't even _know_ about, sneaking past a defense system so easily that you obviously had someone on the inside helping you and going straight towards tombs so ancient that they're the closest we have to somewhere sacred, then it becomes my problem. That's not the war, that's not feuds, that's a traitor spilling our secrets and indicative of a very large inside problem. Best case scenario, Intelligence deals with it before I have to. Worst case scenario, we get this situation."

The Sith pressed the wound shut, then slapped one of the kolto stickies over it with rather more force than was probably necessary, making Theron hiss in pain as the movement jarred his ribs.

The other man let his shirt fall again, grabbing Theron's chin and forcing Theron to look him straight in the eyes. "When you do something like this, I have to make a call. If it's you, or the Empire, I am going to choose the Empire. It's not even a choice, because there is no option where I don't do my duty. If the only way to stop these things from happening is by killing you, then you die."

Theron tried not to swallow as he met Wrath's gaze. He knew that, of course, that was why he hadn't bothered trying to appeal to the other man's emotions. They'd both been very clear when they separated that that's how it was.

And he was absolutely not disappointed with that being reaffirmed so clearly.

"But you aren't planning to kill me right now."

The Sith's grip tightened on Theron's jaw as he glared, "I would rather if you would just avoid forcing the issue."

"I'm not--" Theron sighed, trying to pull his head away from the Sith's grip. If nothing else, having a _context_ for the Sith's actions put him back in comfortable territory. "You do realize why I'm here, right?"

"I'm _aware_. Why do you think I was so quickly at hand? Do you think we're sitting on our hands through this? Your Republic has no idea what the Emperor is capable of and we have every reason to make sure he never gets the chance to remind the galaxy of what he can do. _What_ you're doing doesn't matter when _how_ you're doing it warrants execution." The Sith glared at him. "The fact that I'd rather keep you alive and useful for when he inevitably returns is the only reason you still breathe."

"Then-- You could have just let me go. At this point no one will know you had to make a choice."

"I don't _want_ to just let you go."

Theron was halfway waiting for an explanation, or something more about duty. Normal people would be trying to justify a statement like that. This was past just being enemies; the Empire had very specific ways of dealing with those and one of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy sitting on the floor applying kolto cream was not in that protocol.

No elaboration seemed to be forthcoming, though. Maybe to the Sith, 'I don't want to' was explanation enough. The other man just shoved Theron's shirt out of the way again, roughly smoothing kolto over the burns that his lightning had left on Theron's hip.

Theron had a sudden flash of disappointment that the burn wasn't a few inches lower and instantly flung the thought to the back of his mind. Once he was out of this he was going to sit himself down for a long 'there is a time and a place' talk.

The lack of a followup from the Sith didn't really speak well for Theron's chances of getting out of this in a Republic ship instead of an Imperial one... but maybe that didn't matter. Hell, maybe he could actually turn this around. If the Sith didn't want him poking into secret places, then...

It was a bad idea. The only Sith he could even think of trusting had just threatened to murder him, and no matter how competent the man was, he couldn't be everywhere. It only took one idiot staying loyal to the Emperor and feeding misinformation to the man and they'd entirely miss a resurrection or whatever was going to happen next.

It was the worst idea he'd ever had, but if it could solve some future problems...

"I think," he started, pausing for half a moment as the Sith's eyes snapped up to bore into his with a disturbing intensity, "the best way to avoid this is to make sure we aren't treading the same ground."

"The best way would be for you to _stay out of Imperial affairs_."

"And if you miss something?" Theron demanded. "If I have spies, which I'm not saying I do, then I guarantee the Emperor has far more."

"That's always going to be a risk. You involving yourself just makes it so I have to deal with your spies _and_ his."

"Then let's work together. If I have a lead on something in some ancient Sith ruins, then I'll let you know."

The Sith's hand tightened painfully around the burns on Theron's hip, "And what do you expect me to tell you, exactly? I know full well that anything I give you will make it back to the SIS. Even if it's just your team, I can't risk some idiot deciding they see a weak spot and aiming for it."

"It's not a trade, it's working together. Neither of us want the Emperor to come back and you're the best option for investigating these sort of places anyways."

"Your Republic is going to want an explanation, and I doubt they'll believe that you had a friendly chat about taking down the Emperor without making any compromising deals whatsoever." The Sith leaned back a bit, checking Theron over, then frowned at Theron's arm in a way that told him he was probably going to be feeling some pain from _that_ in a second.

"I'll tell them that you wanted your apprentice to interrogate me. They don't need to know we're working together, and they won't question that motivation or my ability to escape if I wait to do it while you're both gone."

"And if I decide to actually have Jaesa interrogate you?" From the look the Sith was giving him, he was considering it. Theron couldn't really blame him. If _Theron_ had an easy, mostly harmless (if you ignored the privacy violations) way to be sure that this wasn't going to result in a betrayal from a known enemy he would use it in a second. The Sith had threatened to a lot, but Theron had never actually seen him do it. Maybe that sort of threat with a very real ability to carry it out was enough.

Maybe _that_ was why the Sith wasn't too worried about bringing Theron home. His position's entire reason for being was to back up implied threats with real violence. Who was going to point fingers at the man that made Dark Lords tremble?

"I can handle an overly inquisitive ex-Padawan," Theron finally answered.

As much as Theron hated the thought of talking with a force user who could see past all of his careful protections... he really didn't have _that_ much to hide from her. The Sith already knew who he was from the moment they had met, and apparently had managed to piece together some of the rest of it since then. The absolute worst case scenario here was some uncomfortable conversations about his last name and maybe a few more secrets that nobody would be especially surprised by. It would be... awkward. But it was also the sort of thing he could probably shut down easily without really offending anyone.

The Sith laughed, the last of the tension bleeding out of him and his grip easing. Theron couldn't help but wonder how much of the man's earlier behavior had been stress over the inevitable end to this, if Theron kept going after places under Lord Wrath's protection. He hadn't promised not to, and he wouldn't, but if he could minimize the need to do so by just straight up asking the Sith to do so in his stead... it would mitigate some of the problem. The Sith wasn't likely to come after him for all the non-Sithy places that Theron had plans to infiltrate. Someone might ask him to. Lana definitely would ask him to. But if the Sith was willing to stand aside and let Theron kill a Dark Lord, then he'd probably be willing to look the other way for less. All Theron had to do was to not come directly in opposition to him.

The Sith leaned towards him, lips brushing Theron's jawline.

And, fuck, that was another complication.

"Fine. Then I'll drag you back and have my way with you," the Sith purred at him, "By which I mean making you write an awful lot of boring notes, because I need to know exactly what you know before I can tell you anything. I'm not risking inadvertently becoming an informant on myself. It would be incredibly inconvenient."

"That all you're planning?"

"Probably. There's one or two known spies in positions that have frequent contact with my people. Not close enough that they could know anything for sure if I was the subtle type... but I'm not, and if we're having lots of sex every time I shoo Jaesa out of the room then they'll notice. If nothing else they'll notice how my trusted people react to it."

That was... kind of presumptuous considering they hadn't even had any sex yet. They'd agreed it wasn't worth the risk on Yavin.

And Theron certainly hadn't regretted that decision since. He was an adult who was making responsible choices and not in any way yearning for the enemy.

(At least, as far as the SIS knew, which was why it had been a good idea not to sleep with the Sith in the first place)

Theron bit back a yelp as the Sith reached out and grasped his broken arm. The other man made a disapproving sound, twisting the limb slightly as he stared at it in a way that said he was doing... something with the Force. Probably. Or maybe just glaring.

"This won't do."

"Unless there was a splint in there I'm just going to have to deal with it," Theron grit out.

"Mm." The Sith glared at the bruising on Theron's arm for a moment longer, then let the limb go.

Theron let it fall back to his side with a wince. The less he moved it, the less it would hurt. There wasn't much he could do about his ribs; he needed to breathe. An arm he could keep immobile until the Sith carted him off to his ship's medbay.

The Sith didn't seem to have gotten that memo, though. Theron tensed as a ripping sound filled the air, confused for half a second before he realized that the man was tearing apart his cloak. Not even the hem, which would have made sense, but straight down the side.

As the Sith tore the bottom bit away from the strip of fabric and started knotting it, Theron suddenly realized that the man was making a sling. He'd probably wanted to avoid whatever mud he'd inevitably dragged the thing through during their chase. That... was a bit over the top, but better than nothing. Theron carefully moved his arm in front of him, using the forewarning to move it slowly since the Sith surely wouldn't.

"You should take some painkillers," the Sith snapped, grabbing Theron's arm and tucking it into the sling fast enough to make Theron wince as the other man secured the cloth over his shoulder.

"I'd rather not."

"Pain will dull your senses more than the drugs will."

"The drugs that have been sitting out here abandoned for who knows how long?"

The Sith pulled back to eye his handiwork, shrugging, "The kolto seemed fine." He reached out to gently tilt Theron's chin up, his other hand brushing along the bruises he'd left there. "Already fading."

Theron shivered at the touch, and from the predatory look that lit up the Sith's eyes it was probably too much to hope he hadn't noticed the reaction.

The man had made it pretty clear that nothing was going to happen though.

There were too many spies to risk it.

Not here. Sure, the door was open, but they were in the middle of a forest who knew how far from the nearest other person.

Theron could live without making this even more complicated. It was the right thing to do.

And chances were he'd regret making a move more than he'd regretted _not_ making a move on Yavin.

Anything else would be incredibly impulsive and definitely the wrong idea.

Theron reached up with his good hand and pushed the Sith's hand away from his face, then launched himself haphazardly into the Sith's lap before he could think better of it. The other man's eyes sparked with danger for a moment, the air filling with warning, but Theron grabbed onto his armor and hauled himself upwards to kiss him roughly.

 _That_ changed the energy in the air, all right. The Sith wrapped an arm around him with a delighted hum, pulling Theron closer to himself and stabilizing him a bit, even if it made Theron's ribs twinge. The man's other hand ran up Theron's back to gently cup the back of his head.

Theron slid his hand down the Sith's armor to fumble blindly at the man's belt, letting the Sith hold him steady. This would be _so_ much easier with two hands, but just the thought of trying to pull his other arm out of the sling hurt, so he was going to have to make do.

He managed to get the clasp of the Sith's belt undone before the other man suddenly shifted forwards, moving Theron towards the ground fast enough that he braced for an impact that didn't come. Instead the Sith settled him on the ground fairly gently, hand cushioning the back of Theron's head from the floor for a moment before sliding out from under him.

Theron focused on trying to figure out what the hell the zipper on the Sith's pants was doing. He could adjust to this, they were still heading very rapidly in exactly the direction that Theron wanted to be heading, and as long as he stayed focused on that--

The other man grabbed at Theron's wrist, pulling it away from himself and pinning the hand to the ground. He pressed a kiss against Theron's jaw, biting lightly at his skin in a way that said that the Sith was absolutely in control of himself.

Which was not what Theron wanted right at this moment.

Theron bit back a whine as he tried to push things faster anyways. With one arm broken and the other pinned and his head tilted up as the Sith kissed his way across the bruises on his neck that wasn't _easy_ but-- He gasped a little as the Sith bit him again. Still light, but right over one of the bruises where he had choked Theron earlier and _fuck_ that should not be something that felt _good_. Theron threw the rest of his dignity to the wind, twisting a bit to wrap one of his legs around the Sith's and tried to pull the man closer. It didn't work, he might as well have been trying to move a statue, but it did give Theron leverage to press his hips up against him.

The Sith just chuckled against his neck, moving Theron's captured hand above his head with one hand and pressing down on his unburned hip with the other to pin him to the ground. "Patience."

Theron barely swallowed a frustrated whine. In theory, yes, foreplay was great. In _practice_ if he gave himself any time at all to think things through here he was going to talk himself out of it. He had a feeling that _saying_ that would have the opposite effect, though. The Sith was infuriating like that.

The other man just pulled back a bit, smirking down at him for a moment, then he let Theron's hand go. Theron made to move it, but the moment he so much as started lifting it the Sith was pressing it back down again, eyes glowing, "Leave it."

Theron let out a disgruntled sound. Normally he'd argue the point... but he didn't want this to turn into a _discussion_ so instead he just glared.

The Sith smiled, letting his hand go again and making a pleased sound when Theron didn't move it. And Theron _absolutely_ was not at all motivated by that sound, no he wasn't. He had a goal here and playing into a Sith being controlling was not part of it.

The man was pushing up his shirt though, at least as much as he could with Theron's broken arm still slung in the way, which was... promising. Even though he pushed Theron's leg off of him in order to move even _further_ away from him which was the opposite of the goal.

Theron shivered as the Sith suddenly leaned down to kiss Theron's abdomen, then trailed kisses down towards Theron's navel as his free hand worked Theron's pants open. He took his time, biting lightly at Theron's skin while Theron tried not to strain his hips up against the hand that was still pinning him down.

It was tempting to make a joke about other things the Sith could do while he was down there, to at least fill the air with something that wasn't barely smothered sounds. It wasn't silent, he could hear wildlife outside, but it was far too quiet for him to want to be the only thing making noise. Especially embarrassing sort of noises.

Then the Sith pulled Theron's cock out of his pants, and Theron let out a high whine at the sudden contact.

Theron pressed his free arm over his mouth, trying to silence the sounds he was making and get himself under control. This was ridiculous, he was the one who had started this and it was _hardly_ like this was Theron's first time, he shouldn't be--

His thoughts stuttered to a halt as he felt the Sith press a kiss to the head of his cock and he suddenly realized that the Sith had been down there for _exactly_ the reason Theron had been about to joke about.

He swallowed a sound that threatened to be even more embarrassing than what he'd been doing before, distracted enough that he didn't feel the other man move until his arm was being pulled away from his face and the Sith was looming over him, smirking.

"I want to see you." The other man chastised. "Stop hiding. There's no one else here and I'm certainly not going to be judging with your cock down my throat."

Theron flushed, trying to get his thoughts into some sort of order that had a proper argument. Before he could manage that the Sith was moving away again, and before he could properly prepare for _that_ , the Sith was wrapping his lips around Theron's cock.

Theron let out a moan at the feel of the other man sliding down on him, hips trying to jerk upwards even with the Sith's hand pinning them firmly against the ground.

For half a moment he was relieved that he had broken bones. If he hadn't had the pain to focus on, he would have been dangerously close to coming _already_.

He would not have bet on the Sith being the sort of person to go down on anyone, ever. But the tongue against his cock said otherwise, reducing Theron to cursing under his breath, and when he felt his tip press against the back of his throat, and felt the Sith _taking him in_ he was reduced to moaning. He had the _Wrath of the Empire's_ lips wrapped around his cock literally fucking his throat and he just couldn't-- Fuck.

The pain that lanced through his ribs with every shudder was almost welcome, grounding him and keeping him barely back from the edge as Theron struggled not to completely lose himself with every stroke. Every muscle in his body was tense, and as he felt the Sith's teeth graze against him he let out a whine, back arching and the pain conspiring to leave him even more breathless.

He couldn't-- He was going to--

Theron twisted his broken arm harshly to try to get himself under control, gasping out, "Stop. Stop, I'm going to come if you keep going."

The Sith just gave a pleased hum, barely pressing his teeth against Theron's cock in a way that made him almost give in to the feel of it, but he forced himself up onto his elbow instead, trying to regulate his breathing.

The other man glanced up at him with an raised an eyebrow, looking ridiculously _obscene_ in that position, and Theron suddenly realized that there was a good chance that this was all the Sith was planning on doing.

Which was fine. Sex didn't have to be anal. Theron could live without that. Or at least he could in any other situation where there wasn't a 99% chance that this was the only time he was going to let himself be stupid enough to take it this far.

"Seriously, I want to... Just, stop a second."

Theron couldn't get his words in order, but the Sith finally pulled away from him. The air felt cold against him. Theron tried to steady himself, mentally beating back any disappointment since this was _literally_ what he had asked for. At least it was good to know that he could get the Sith to stop if he ever needed to for reasons that couldn't be summed up by 'get my cock out of you so you can put your cock into me.'

Not that he would need to, because this was absolutely the only time this was going to happen.

The Sith leaned up over him, pulling him into a deep kiss before pulling back and inspecting him with an amused look. "You realize you're too injured for much else?"

Theron scoffed, indignant easier to ground in than what he'd been trying earlier. "I have some fractures. I'm not made of porcelain."

"But you _are_ breakable."

"Your dick isn't that big. It's not going to break me." Theron shot back, deliberately misdirecting. He didn't want time to think about this, and the sooner he could get the Sith onto the same page the better.

"Yes it is." The Sith laughed, running a finger up Theron's cock. "And unless there's some lube in those medical supplies anything more involved would be dangerous."

It was absolutely unfair how composed the Sith was. Instead of focusing on that, Theron reached towards the medkit, dragging it over and rummaging through it until he found what he wanted.

The Sith pulled it out of his hands, giving it a once over and then pinning Theron with an unimpressed look. "It says 'For topical use only. Do not use internally.' In about three places."

Theron sighed. "That's just because everyone uses it as lube and they don't want to get sued. Trust me, I've used it before and it was fine."

That, of all things, had the Sith's eyes glowing. Which was ridiculous because they'd literally gotten tipsy and talked about old conquests during a slow day on Rishi, so there was zero chance that the Sith wasn't fully aware that he wasn't the first guy that Theron had slept with.

In the next moment, the Sith was pushing Theron back down to the floor, kissing him possessively and biting at his lips. Which was still ridiculous but if it got things moving this way then Theron was _fine_ with that.

The other man's hand found its way to his cock, startling a moan out of Theron that made the Sith pull back. "You aren't going to last long," the Sith observed, smirking as his fingers tensed around Theron's cock

"Probably not," Theron admitted breathlessly. "Especially if you keep doing that. That going to be an issue?"

"Mm, I'm closer than you might think," the Sith answered, staring intently at Theron for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the bottle of lube that Theron had pulled out of the medkit. The man gave it a scornful once over before flicking the top off. He probably broke the cap in the process but... Well, it wasn't like they needed it more than once.

The Sith pulled back and Theron tried not to tense in anticipation. The man pulled Theron's pants down his legs, pausing to give Theron a long, hungry look that made him feel incredibly exposed. Then he his hand glowed a bit and Theron jerked in surprise as the Sith used the force to quickly remove his boots, clearing the way for him to pull Theron's pants all the way off.

"You could have left those on, there's plenty of positions--"

"I didn't want to." The Sith gave Theron another once over, sounding incredibly pleased with himself. "I'd remove your shirt too, but I'd rather not risk moving your arm so I'll just have to live with that."

Before Theron could grumble more, the man was kissing him again. As one of his hands adjusted Theron's leg, the Sith moved to Theron's neck, alternating between soft kisses and little bites.

Theron could hear him fussing with the jar so he swallowed his impatience, letting his head tilt back as each bite made him shudder a little. He let his eyes close as he struggled to keep himself under control. If nothing else, the slight break for arguing about things had given him a bit of time to catch his breath.

And then he felt the Sith's fingers, cold with lube, pressing against him, and he suddenly realized how very _not_ under control he was.

The Sith laughed against his neck as Theron let out a moan, the man's fingers pressing into him and fuck that was too much all at once. Theron shuddered as he forced himself to relax his muscles, wondering if the Sith had ever heard of _pacing_ himself... which was somewhat hypocritical considering Theron had been wanting to jump straight into it earlier, but still.

The man added another finger and Theron let out a sharp breath, shuddering as the Sith immediately followed up by biting him a little harder than he had before. He reached towards the other man's head, only to get his hand pinned again. Which meant all he could do was just... give in to it.

By the time the Sith's fingers slipped out of him Theron let out a whine without realizing it. He expected the Sith to pull back again, since last Theron had checked the man was fully dressed, but all the man did was shift his position slightly before something was pressing against Theron's entrance and-- fuck. Had the Sith managed to get himself out with the _force_ without Theron realizing it?

Either Theron needed to pay better attention or that was terrifying. He didn't have time to think about it though, whining slightly as the Sith pressed into him. He hadn't even _seen_ the Sith's cock yet, which was incredibly unfair, but just from the feel of it the man hadn't been exaggerating.

The man kept Theron's hip pinned down as he slid in with a frustrating slowness, pressing soft kisses against Theron's lips that were frankly more obscene in contrast than just making out would have been. Once he was fully pressed against him the Sith paused a moment with a pleased hum that meant Theron couldn't tell if he was trying to give Theron time to adjust or just enjoying himself.

Theron let out a moan as the Sith finally-- Finally!-- started moving, pressing his hips up against the hand that was _still_ immobilizing them.

This time the Sith didn't keep him pinned though. Theron let out a small victorious sound as the man released him, his hand moving up to press Theron's wrist to the ground instead as his other hand circled around to the small of Theron's back, leaving trails of warmed lube on his skin.

The Sith was too big to hit his prostate on every stroke, which was frankly a relief, but on some full thrusts he'd nail it and leave Theron gasping and seeing stars. It was all he could do to focus on the pain of his wounds, trying to prolong things for as long as possible. The Sith seemed to have the same idea, since he hadn't even touched Theron's cock again.

Then another thrust sent him over the edge. Theron arched up, letting out a wordless yell and locking his legs tightly around the other man, every bit of his nerves so on fire that he could barely even feel his ribs.

The Sith moaned into Theron's neck, thrusts becoming erratic. Theron went boneless against the ground, his free hand-- the Sith had released it at some point without him noticing, bracing against the floor instead-- caressing over the other man's shoulder.

The other man came silently, biting Theron's collar bone hard enough to make him whimper. For a moment he thought the Sith was going to collapse onto him, but instead the man drew in a long breath and shoved himself back, sliding out of Theron with a suddenness that made him ache.

The man smiled down at him with enough fondness that Theron had to look away, but it just made the Sith laugh and reach out to pull Theron gently into his lap. Theron collapsed against the Sith's chest, trying to catch his breath as the other man pressed gentle kisses against his hair and ran a hand up Theron's back.

"You," the Sith breathed into his hair, "are going to make it incredibly hard to behave myself when I've got you back home."

"Were you ever actually planning on doing that?" Theron muttered.

As much as the Sith talked about being cautious, he had flirted an awful lot on Yavin. And Rishi. And Manaan. Okay, in retrospect maybe nobody cared about Lord Wrath flirting with Republic agents because the man was a flirt in general. Even if Theron hadn't really seen him flirting with anyone else, maybe that just meant the man had a type. Or targeted one person at a time. Definitely nothing more than that.

"Were you?" the other man countered, sounding so smug that Theron could _feel_ the smirk.

"I--" Theron flushed, then pushed away from the Sith's chest, only stopped from falling backwards out of his lap like he'd intended by the Sith's refusal to let him go. Of course he'd been planning to keep a distance. Right up until five seconds before he jumped the other man, that had been the plan. A momentary lapse in judgement didn't change that. "We should figure out a plan for getting me past your people. Much as I don't like it, the best plan is probably for me to be unconscious. If I'm not, someone is far more likely to notice that you patched me up. I should probably lose the sling as well."

The Sith laughed, "You are _not_ trying to avoid the conversation by telling me to knock you out."

"I'm not avoiding anything. There isn't even a conversation to avoid! I'm just--"

"You are!" The Sith pulled Theron close again, kissing him gently and chuckling against his lips. "You're ridiculous."

"You've been gone for too long already."

"I'll be gone for as long as I want to be gone, and when I return they'll salute and get out of my way." The Sith bit at Theron's lip lightly before pulling back. "But if you want to postpone the conversation then fine, we can revisit it later."

"Aren't we avoiding doing anything that might tip someone off to... anything?" Theron asked desperately. He'd forgotten, somehow, that sex might open the door to conversations about emotions and intentions.

"We're avoiding doing anything that might tip off people who _aren't_ entirely loyal to me. If conversations were a problem, then the whole plan would be dead in the water."

"Well-- Fine. We'll... revisit things later." Theron pressed his face against the other man's armor, trying to steady himself.

The Sith could be either impossible to get to let something go, or easily distracted in an instant. Theron would just have to hope it was the latter.

It probably wasn't.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Gammarad for betaing this! Especially since I was writing right up to the wire like the disaster that I am.


End file.
